


how comfortable it will be to touch

by dogeared



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Autumn, Community: h50_flashfic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-03
Updated: 2011-10-03
Packaged: 2017-10-24 06:36:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/260227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogeared/pseuds/dogeared
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which there is sweater-wearing and apple-picking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	how comfortable it will be to touch

"So, if this is your parents' annual tradition," Steve asks, "how come we're the ones out here?" They're back at the bed and breakfast, making small talk with the owners about baseball and peak foliage and what the wet summer did to the water table, Steve guesses, while he and Danny and Grace made the trip to the orchard alone. At least he got to drive; his spine's still complaining about the long hours folded into the back seat of Danny's parents' car yesterday, Gracie sandwiched between him and Danny. He stretches tall, and his t-shirt rides up, and he smirks when he catches Danny looking.

"Welcome to the Williams family, babe. Never do for yourself what you can send your kids to do." Steve isn't sure he gets it, the whole "give Grace a real New England autumn" thing, but he loves that Danny gets to have this time with her, watches him lean down and rest his chin on top of Grace's head. "Which is why I'm going to make you pick all the apples, right, Monkey?"

"No way, Danno! Grandma said no doughnuts unless you help pick, too."

"Well who says I want a doughnut anyway, huh?" Danny says, and Steve catches Grace's eye, waggles his eyebrows and makes her giggle. "Oh, I see how it is," Danny says, and that's all the warning Grace gets before he swoops in, tickling her and then hoisting her up and over his shoulder like she doesn't weigh anything at all while she shrieks and laughs. He leaves her hanging there while he turns to Steve. "You, my friend, might want to button up."

Danny's dressed for the weather, snug in a sweater he'd dug out of the back of a closet at his parents' house. His cheeks are pinked up in the brisk air, and he's so obviously happy that he's all but glowing with it, and it's not Steve's fault that he was too busy feeling Danny up between pancakes and brushing their teeth to remember his own sweater. He rolls down his sleeves and does up a couple of the buttons.

Danny shakes his head and puts Grace down again, takes the time to smooth her hair back into some semblance of order and then does the same to his own, and Steve can't quite smother a huff of laughter. "I heard that. All right, everyone ready? Can we get this show on the road, please?" He points at Grace, points at Steve, and they both nod back at him. "Okay, good. What do you think, do we need a wagon?"

"No, Uncle Steve can carry the apples," Gracie says, and Danny grins at Steve and says, "You know what? I think that is an excellent use of our resources."

Steve locks the car, makes sure the keys are secure in his pocket, falls into step next to them like it's exactly where he's supposed to be. _Welcome to the Williams family_ , he thinks.

* * *

Steve groans when he hauls the bags of apples back to the car, and it's only partly for Grace's benefit. They might have gotten a little carried away, and he has no idea what Danny's mom is going to do with all of them. He feels pretty good about his chances for pie before they head back to Honolulu, though.

He stows them in the trunk and wanders back to find Danny and Grace in the pumpkin patch. Grace is doing some kind of pumpkin inspection, peering closely at one and then the next and the next, and Danny's watching her fondly. Steve slips into his space, gripping Danny's forearm through his sweater for a second before letting go. Steve's well and truly chilled now, in spite of the cups of hot cider they all had, and Danny's tempting, soft and touchable. "Hey, you," he says, turning and smiling at Steve and leaning into him a little. "Pie, totally worth it, I promise you."

"It's all good, Danno." Steve wants to find a way to say what it means to him to be here with Danny and his family, accepted into the fold like they were waiting for him all along; he wants to tell Danny how weirdly grateful he is to be a world away from his everyday life and still have Danny as his constant. But Danny must figure out at least some of it, must be able to read it all over Steve's face just like he always can, because he's tilting his head up for a kiss, and he tastes sweet and spicy, like cinnamon and cloves and sugar, and his hair smells like woodsmoke, and his hand's a warm, grounding weight against the small of Steve's back, and even after Steve closes his eyes, he can still see the afterimages of Danny's bright, glad gaze, of the blue, blue sky.

"This one, Danno!" Grace yells. "This one's perfect!"

Steve couldn't agree more.

 

In the deep fall  
don't you imagine the leaves think how  
comfortable it will be to touch  
the earth instead of the  
nothingness of air and the endless  
freshets of wind?  
—Mary Oliver, "Song for Autumn"


End file.
